


the kudzu leaves rustle, regretfully

by lady_peony



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Canon Era, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Tumblr: Natsume Week 2019, in the loosest sense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-23 22:07:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19710403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lady_peony/pseuds/lady_peony
Summary: "Why did you do it?" Natori says. He's not standing close to Matoba in a way that feels deliberately calculated, standing at a step or two away at the far edge of an undrawn circle.





	the kudzu leaves rustle, regretfully

**Author's Note:**

> [For natsume week day 7 prompt: loyalty/longing](https://natsumeweek.tumblr.com/post/185397616544/natsume-week-2019-prompts-are-here)
> 
> This really could be gen, rated more for the canon-typical violence and slight mentions of blood/injury.

There are three necessary components to a proper binding spell: blood, ink, and words.

There are bindings done with just blood and ink, and sometimes, bindings with just blood and words.

Ink and words on their own will not suffice.

Sacrifice, you understand, is needed for every bond.

* * *

"Why did you do it?" Natori says. He's not standing close to Matoba in a way that feels deliberately calculated, standing at a step or two away at the far edge of an undrawn circle.

"It couldn't be helped." Matoba lets the scroll in his hands close shut, stands from where he had been leaning against the trunk of a pine tree. "It was all as the family requested."

"It didn't faze you the slightest bit, you mean," Natori says, and laughs, a biting edge in it. "That shiki—"

"Could not have been allowed to continue as he was." Matoba tilts up his chin, flicks his glance to Shuuichi's eyes. "Better to cut off an infection before it grows too deep."

It was another old exorcist estate, with yet another heir who could not see. Then a shiki, unwisely bound to the family before her lack of sight was discovered. Powerful enough, though, to assume human shape.

It did not take long before the neighbors began whispering about that family's eldest daughter, walking with a mysterious suitor.

"It was a little overkill, don't you think?" Natori snaps away his eyes from Matoba, holds up one of his hands to look at his fingernails. Flexes his fingers once. The words blur into the air, shift yet again into something like provocation.

"This isn't your first assignment," Matoba says, allows the tiniest drop of venom to leak through into his voice. " _Is it_ , Natori-san? You had your own part in this."

You know what is demanded of us.

Matoba's hand shot the last blow. The seal that pulled the shiki to the ground was Shuuichi-san's handiwork.

Natori drops his hand. "How unfeeling. Funny that I would expect you to say anything else. You don't feel sorry, about any of it at all."

"No." It would be pointless. Seiji thinks of crane-wives, of kitsune who shed their furs for kimonos, who stay among humans for years, decades, their husband and children none the wiser.

The stories never ended happily.

What worth is a youkai's loyalty? In spite of any gratitude, any finer feelings, it is only a matter of time before their true nature emerges. At their best, they disappear. At their worst, they draw blood.

They cannot stay in one place, cannot linger for too long. Something that cannot be bound can only be banished.

So Natori is angry with him now, is he. It's not a surprise to Matoba. He'll circle in close on occasion like a slow-curling vine, in asides and forest clearings and conversations half-semantics, half-sincere. Other times, he'll pull back, eyes cool and guarded, as if struck by a sudden reminder whose name he carries, a specter seen only from the corner of Seiji's eye at the top of stairs and edges of crowds.

* * *

Natori looks up at him. "I don't plan to make this habit," he says, tries to stand, and sways sideways into Matoba. Unconscious.

He's heavier than he was when he was boy.

It was supposed to be a simple visit. A simple ritual to reinforce wards around one of their properties. Ink, and spells, and blood.

The clan, over the years, has swelled from the original eleven to carry twelve families, thirteen, and another and another, their holdings growing accordingly with it. The Matoba leader stands not just as its head, but at its heart. A locus of power, in all meanings of the word.

"Why are you here," Matoba says.

There are flashes of memory before the ritual had been complete. The circle, Matoba at the center of it. A youkai, disguised as an animal, a serpent or a beast? Who could say?

There's something dark spreading from Natori's side onto Matoba's robe, red on black. Matoba ignores it. He knows, somewhere behind him, Nanase is giving instructions to other clan servants, all crisp efficiency.

Shuuichi does not answer, his profile slanted against Seiji's knee. The gecko that haunts him is curled halfway between his right hand and his wrist, the hand that Seiji had grabbed onto when Natori fell.

He releases Natori's hand, raises his forefinger to outline the shape of the shadow without touching it, hovering just half an inch above skin.

A body may bleed and still survive. A body without a heart is nothing but a corpse.

Matoba closes his eye. Panic is pointless. Lets his breathing go in and out, following the rhythms he learned when practicing spells.

_Wake up._

He looks down. Lightly, he lowers a hand, brushes a stray leaf off of Shuuichi's forehead. Waits for him to open his eyes, to speak. 

**Author's Note:**

> +apologies to rosencranzt and guildenstern for mangling one of their iconic lines in a passing allusion  
> +[The Crane Wife](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5pAKtsiyxw)  
> +[title inspiration from here](http://yokai.com/kuzunoha/)
> 
> me, gesturing dramatically during this whole fic: okay how do we include moRE LONGING in this


End file.
